Rare Heritage Rabbits

Hi! My name is Kimberly. I own Blessed Farm, and Blessed Rabbitry. My main focus is German Angoras, and cross/hybrids of Germans for color, using top quality French and English for my outcrosses. Right now, I am working for high percentage Red/Fawn German hybrids. Chocolates and lilacs are next.

I am also moving into the very old, rare, and lovely Beveren breed, which apperently has an angora wooled type. Even though this type is not recognized or accepted by ARBA (the breed is, but only the shorter coated types), I am going to be working with two other breeders in the NW of Beverens to develop both types, with goals of having a triple purpose rabbit breed, wool, meat and fur. The Beveren wool seems to have a very different, but equally lovely texture, and has lusture that most angora does not posses. So, I am excited to be working with that breed for a unique angora wool experience.

I have been spinning for nearly 6 years now, and raising rabbits for 15. I am the breed representative for Angoras within the NorthWest Rare and Hertiage Rabbit Breeders Club. I own an online shop where I sell handspun yarns, fibers from my angoras, and knitted items made from my handspun. I also am venturing into the world of dying fibers naturally with plants. I'd be delighted to help out with any questions concerning angoras, dying, spinning, and felting.

Kim
www.blessedfarm.com
www.Blessedfarm.etsy.com ~ my online fiber shop!

You are awesome, Kim!

Eventhough I don't spin, I have a question about the natural dyes. What base are they? I make beeswax candles and am looking into plant-based dyes for colouring them, but it has to be an oil base.

Krystal

Well, to be honest, I have never used dyes for anything but fiber, and so far, only food color dyes and a few natural goodies like Black Walnuts. I am learning, but I can't really tell you what base any dyes you would use for candles would have.

If you can use pretty much ANY dye with candles, I do know that there is a great brand that is being raved about by some of my more experienced dying friends that is environmentally friendly, so that says something for them. Even plant dyes sometimes need some pretty harsh mordants, and are potentially toxic in themselves. That brand is Mother MacKenzie's Miracle Dyes (by Judith MacKenzie-McCuin). I myself haven't used them yet, but my good friend Heidi has used them, alot, and they make LOVELY colors. You can get them from her at the Artful Ewe http://www.theartfulewe.com/. Heidi may know if they can be used for candles as well as fibers.

HTH!

Kim

[quote="Blessedfarm"]Well, to be honest, I have never used dyes for anything but fiber, and so far, only food color dyes and a few natural goodies like Black Walnuts. I am learning,

The book "Back to Basics" has a nice chart on what plants make what colours. Although, you may already know that! Wink

I am always learning of new plants and combinations to make different colors. It's fun! And a lot of them are wild plants that can be harvested without any trouble. I have a huge list of them. What's even more fun is each plant, using a different mordant, can reveal a wide range of shades.

I found somewhere a list of different mordants that can be used, as well, but our computer crashed, and lost it. I hate having to start over, lol.

I haven't spun a lot of white lately, so haven't focused on dying as much as I would like this summer, but I do know that over dying is supposed to be really neat. I do have some nice lighter colored (oatmeal) fiber that I may blend with some white angora, and see what I get dunking it into the Black walnut dye I have sitting around.

Kim